End of the Road - BUT not for us!!!

The signpost at the End of the Road.  Bet you didn't know it was signposted!
We are here at the bottom of Tasmania .. at the marker of the end of roads in Australia. 
After this only water, Macquarie Island (if you find it/hit it) and Antarctica... it is remote and stunningly beautiful here.

We are in Recherche Bay at the bottom of Tasmania.  The vistas - everywhere you turn to look - are breathtaking.  Our anchorage is a protected bay within the larger bay called Coalbins and from the boat you can see the opposite shore or the expanse of water stretching out to the North. 

Right now the westerly winds are blowing.  At times they're much lighter than you would expect coming off the southern ocean and then in the next minute the wind gathers strength to whip up the water surface and leave the boat pulling left and then right against her mooring line.  We are waiting for those unpredictable and often fierce westerlies to settle down and for a change to more favourable wind speeds and direction.  Our plan is to move out into the Southern Ocean early in the morning and around the coast to a place called Port Davey/Bathurst Harbour.  Every time I think about it I get that tense, almost sick, feeling in the bottom of my stomach.  That feeling comes to me when I know we're sailing to a new place.  You would think after making it all the way down here I wouldn't get that "stage fright" feeling .. but I do, in spades.

Once we move around to explore Bathurst Harbour we will be out of contact with the world through phone or the internet.  The only contact will be via either limited VHF radio coverage or HF radio coverage.  The area is a true National Park treasure and, supposedly, one of the most beautiful places on our planet.  If you would like to find out more about the area, or see a YouTube video on the national park click here to go to a link .

As I say each time I sit down to blog ... "the past few days/weeks have been soooo busy" .. and since I blogged last it's been no exception.  We've been to some amazing places and seen some grand sights and now, to get in as much as I'd like to and not be too boring, I'm just going to post pictures below ....

This is the outside of a large "shed" in the bush which is the home of THE WALL.
The Wall, when finished, will be a collection of 100 sculpted panels of Huon pine with scenes representing the pioneer spirit of Tasmanians, the clash of cultures with Aboriginal people and the plants and animals that define the bush.
The art is simply amazing, in fact words don't/can't do it justice.  The artist is Greg Duncan and he's been working on this for over 10 years now.  What he can create out of wood is almost too real to be believed.  You can't take photos inside the building but to get a taste of what it looks like and more information click here to go to the website

On the way to The Wall we stopped to have a look at one of the hydro electric plants on the way.  These plants are built differently to hydro plants I had seen previously.  Instead of a major dam driving the turbines this plant - and many more like it - have water coming from canals, rivers, etc in the bush.  The water cascades down steep slopes .. as you can see from the photo .. and hit the turbines at great speed.  Fantastic sight!!

The day before we left Hobart we had to completely restock the boat.  What you can see here is probably 2/3rds alcohol - one can't run out of wine or beer now can one - but there are more food bags behind.  I promise.  Thank goodness we still have our car or we would have needed 10 trips back and forth to the stores!!  All stocked we took off yesterday morning for the southern ocean.

Leaving the Derwent River - Hobart - in the early morning we passed a cruise ship on the way in to Hobart city.

The cliffs on the Storm Bay side of Bruny Island.  They are huge.  You can just see a tour boat at the bottom to get an idea of how massive and high the cliffs are.  We were lucky .. the wind was very calm and we could get in relatively close to see the sights!



More fabulous and ancient rock formations on the way down to Rescherche Bay.  This island was so worn the fast tour boats could just go in behind it and peak out through the tunnels. 

The far beach in Rescherche Bay,

The mountains of the rugged South West coast.  That's where we headed .. to the bay nearest to these mountains.
It looks like Middle Earth doesn't it?

Here in Rescherche Bay they used to practice whaling.  There used to be a population of over 100,000 southern right whales here at one time.  Whaling brought that population down to almost extinction.  Now there are only a couple of 1,000 still coming here in their migration.  This sculpture is life size of a young whale calf.  So sad we drove these wonderful creatures to the edge of extinction. 

So tomorrow we're off into the southern ocean and around to Port Davey.  I won't be able to blog for a week .. maybe more ... but when we're back there will be lots and lots to share!